Parental Contribution to Daughter's university loan.

scotsgirl_3

Take a look at the saas website, they are responsible for deciding student support levels in Scotland - this covers both the young student bursary and student loans ( although these are then paid by the student loan company.

You daughter will be assessed against your income however by the sounds of it your income is fairly low - plug your figures into this calculator, it should give you an idea of where you will stand

http://www.saas.gov.uk/anon_calc.htm

Hope this helps

dmg24

moiramacfarlane wrote: »

Thank you for your reply.

We _do_ "count ourselves lucky" we don't have to pay fees, but that's no reason not to want to know what our situation is viz a viz our expected contribution to her finances.
Was there something wrong with my posting?

Did I say there was anything wrong with your post?

Everything that you need to know is in the link that I gave.

January20

moiramacfarlane wrote: »

We would, of course, help to support her, both financially and materially, but not necessarly at the level she has been used to over the past few years. It is more that, having continuously supported her through three years of college, we feel that, at 20, it is time she started to stand on her own two feet.

I do not like the fact that she is taking it as her right or forgranted, or saying that we must, or that the government say that we must give her a financial contribution, and, to be honest, sulking when her dad and I say that we don't think it's fair on her siblings to give her more of what's available than they get.

What I want is to be able to provide her with necessities, have her stand on her own two feet a bit, gain some pride, and dad and I be able to drop in "care packages" ie food/a bit of cash to get her hair done/a wee bit extra now and then.

My husband and I are both care assistants, and the pay is not great, so to be told that we must without question give her yet more money, (after she wasted two years at college... fingers crossed she's passed third time) to the detriment of the other children in the family, would be a hard one to swallow.

I think your problem is more to do with your daughter's expectations than anything else! At 20, it is high time that she realises how far (or not) 20 000 go! She probably doesn't want the responsibility but tough! She is not your only child and what are you going to do? Get yourselves into debt and deprive your other children for her?

I am expecting my daughter to stand on her own two feet when she is 18 and goes to universty. She will be legally an adult by then and although I will help her as much as I can, she will have to prove that she is making an effort to support herself too. She is 15 1/2 at the moment and she already understands that. Just as she understands how, although I give her an allowance, as I don't give her as much as she uses, she does regular babysitting jobs and I think she really enjoys the fact she has earned that money.

Sometimes we need to give our kids some tough love!

Savvy_Sue

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FWIW, we earn considerably more than you do and we don't support DS1, although the assumption is that we do. That's not entirely true of course: we don't give him a regular allowance, but he does live at home for free, and more often than not gets ferried to and fro each term.

After his first year, we decided it wasn't worth declaring our income, but now DS2 is off and under the new rules (ie he has to pay lots more for tuition) it IS worth declaring our income again.

It's your choice how you support your daughter. Just as it's her choice to go to University. I presume you are not forcing her to go: she could stay home and go find a job! She may need reminding of that ...

jm2926

I'd wonder after three attempts to pass her highers if an academic route is the best choice for her. It's not clear if the last two years failures are a result of lack of ability or lack of effort on her part, both of which will be required at University.
(don't take this the wrong way, after all, not everyone is cut out for studying)

Is it simply the "easiest" option from her point of view in that she has fun and doesn't have to support herself?

I'd think at 20 it is up to your daughter to take responsibility for funding her choice of going to Uni, including the option to live away from home, which is much more expensive. She should be grateful for any assistance you choose to give her, after all 20k only goes so far. If she had passed her highers first time she would be half way through her degree now.

moiramacfarlane

Thank you all for your replies. I am much clearer on this now.

She is not going to be doing a "hard academic" course as such, it is quite a practical course with theory to learn. It is a choice she made herself, and unfortunately, for the past three years at college, it has been a case of drifting around with her friends, playing on her DS, etc etc. She's bright enough, certainly, according to her tutors, but just hasn't put the effort in.

For us, I have to say we felt it was a good option between home and being completely independent for her to go to Uni. I have to say If she doesn't get the marks, I don't know what we'll do with her. We can't have her at home any more. She wants it all and is grateful for nothing. I feel quite manipulated as she was telling us that we had to top off her living allowance etc.

Oldernotwiser

I really don't think that you have a problem here; as your family income is low, your daughter will be eligible for the full student funding as detailed in dmg24's link. It's really only when parents have a much higher income and there's no grant available that there's the expectation that the parents will make up the difference. Leaving aside any bursaries that might be available directly from the university, your daughter should receive at least £4,500 to cover a 30 week year, giving her an income of of £150 per week. Together with a few hours of part time work this should be perfectly adequate to support her. The assumption would be that she returns to live with her parents during the holidays where she can work and pay for her keep if you wish.

Your daughter's attitude may derive from ignorance of student finances but she needs to develop a more independent approach. As jm2926 says, having to do resits twice doesn't bode well for her academic future so you may well have her back on your hands before long. Make sure that she knows that, if that happens, she'll be expected to pay her way.

I'd have a thorough look at the information given here and sit her down for a serious discussion. She's being unrealistic and you need to face her with this before it goes any further. You must be doing brilliantly to be bringing up a family of 4 without claiming any benefits; don't let your daughter's selfishness rock your financial boat!

kr15snw

You dont have to do anything. My parents couldnt afford to fund me (they earnt a bit less than you) and so I got the full help. So I HAD to get a job and support myself through the last two years.

I manged! As have thousands of others.

poet123

Sometimes students get a false expectation of what should be done for them by the actions of their peers parents. As has been said, from your income she will get the max allowances,so should be able to manage with the occasional help you have outlined. Coupled with a part time job/summer job she will have more disposable income than you so let her learn to budget.

St8_2

I'm studying at university and I am the same age as your daughter. I am self employed and find ways of earning cash all the time aswell as taking out the full loan and getting a small grant.

My parents offered money to support me, and I have always (kindly) rejected it as I want to be independent and believe their hard earned cash should no long be spent on me. It was my choice to go to university and therefore I will fund it myself. To do this I took a gap year between completing my A levels and going to uni to earn money to make studying for my degree a little easier. Plus im lucky enough to be earning enough now so I don't need a loan next year, but I will take it, as I will save it in high interest savings. Plus if you do not apply for a loan, you can't apply for a grant.

With only the loan and grant, a student can live quite comfortably for the academic year if they budget well. But they will have to work in the summer when they are back home to support themselves. Ideally they will also be able to save some money throughout the summer to use in the next academic year too.

To have abit more spare cash your daughter should get a part time job and therefore there will be no need for you to be committed to supporting her financially. With the loan, grant and her part-time job income you should have peace of mind that she is living comfortably.

Also with your daughters attitude and expectations I think it would be best for her to get no support from you at all, even if you could easily afford it. Living at uni on her own income from part-time work and the loan, she will need to budget and she will learn the value of money and how hard you have to work for yours.

Hopefully she will get into uni this year, I wish her good luck! Maybe an option though is for her to defer her place to next year instead and work this year to save some extra cash.